I’ve always been a little confused when it comes to how much sun a plant needs and where to plant it in the yard.  Sometimes I’m swayed  because a plant would look great in a certain location.  But plants won’t thrive without specific quantities of sunlight–too much can cause scorched leaves, while too little can can prohibit blooms, etc.  Then last year I found on learn2grow.com exactly what what each description means in hours of sun per day.  

-full sun  (6-8 hours of sun)

-part sun (4-6 hours)

-part shade (2-4 hours)

-full shade (up to 2 hours of sun)

So, in order to better calculate my sun, I was taking digital photos of my garden every two hours.  This works, but it’s a lot of photos to study for each little area.  

Then in the latest BHG magazine (June 2009) I found a SunCalc.  It electronically measures the sunlight & gives a reading, so there’s less guesswork!  I’d buy this product in a heartbeat if it wasn’t $21 plus S&H.  Perhaps Ebay?